Three Churches and a Pizza Shop

Roma Reporta - Matt Charlton
Monday, January 26, 2009

The lineup for today's art history tour included three early Christian churches, including S. Maria Maggiore, S. Prassede, and S. Pudenziana. The day brought with it some fantastic Seattle weather – and the hordes of men selling umbrellas. Fortunately for us, we missed most of it as we were inside visiting the first church of S. Maria Maggiore.

This church was the first (or second depending on which church you support) that was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. A man had a dream that upon a hill in Rome it would snow, and there he was to lay the foundation of a church. Being that it was July, he did not know where this would take place. So away he went to ask the Pope for guidance. As it turns out, the Pope had the same dream, and they successfully located the hill on which the church now stands. Inside the church are intense mosaics and paintings, and the ceiling is guilded in gold. It is said that the very first of the gold from the New World went to the ceiling of this church. Unfortunately, the side naves were closed for cleaning. Above the entrance to the church is a relatively modern stained glass window. Towards the front of the church there is a four-pillared structure called a baldichino. It is extremely well-decorated, yet it obscures the view of the artistry above the central nave. Above this, however, is a picture of Jesus crowning Mary as the Mother of God, recognizing her as a holy entity after the Council of Ephesus. These structures were popularized by Bernini, who is actually buried inside of the church with but a simple marker noting his name.

Our second church was but a short walk away, and was the church of S. Prassede. This church differed from S. Maria Maggiore due to the style and quantity of its interior decoration. S. Prassede saved the artifacts from saints and martyrs known as relics – usually their bones – and moved them inside of this church. The inside was decorated with mosaics of a different style that was more Constantinian, as the faces and bodies are with colors and richness that were typically not used in previous artistic eras. The mosaics were created with glass tesserae that reflects light extremely well, adding life to the pieces.

Our final church was that of S. Pudenziana, which was formerly a bathhouse. It is now run by Filipino clergy. This church represents some of the evolution of early Christian art. For example, each of the Apostles (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) are located in a huge mosaic in the central nave in their animal forms. Below them is Jesus, who is centrally located and is reminiscent of images of Roman emperors. He is larger in size than all other figures, and is sitting above them in the image. He is also symmetrical. In the background are identifiable buildings signifying the two cities most important in Christianity: Jerusalem and Rome.